Monday, July 27, 2015

God, Faith and Identity from the Ashes: Children and Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors Share Their Stories

In July Oskar
Groening, the “accountant of Auschwitz ,” was found guilty of 300,000 charges
of accessory to murder. His trial is considered to be one of the last trials of
the Nazis who perpetrated the Holocaust.

Already, most who
experienced the Holocaust are dead. Soon, all will be gone. But one group of
people who were impacted by it remains: The children and grandchildren of
Holocaust survivors.

In the book, 88 children and grandchildren of
survivors share how the Holocaust shaped them theologically, politically,
culturally and in terms of identity, education and careers.

Although none of them experienced the Holocaust first-hand, all were deeply
affected by it.

“We did not see our families murdered, we
were never cold, we were never starved, we were never beaten,” says Rosensaft,
a child of two survivors.

“We grew up in comfort. And yet what we do
have, what sets us apart, is that we grew up with our parents and grandparents.
We absorbed their stories firsthand.”

The book is divided into four sections:
God and Faith, Identity, A Legacy of Memory, and Changing the World for the
Better.

In the first section, the writers reflect
on how the Holocaust affected their faith. Some choose to believe in God and
kept their faith, while some dismiss the idea of loving or caring God completely.
Others have landed somewhere in between.

Eric Neilson’s grandfather lost his
parents and two brothers in the concentration camps, yet he kept his faith in
God.

“It strikes me that, for all my doubts and
questions, if my grandfather can go on thanking the God of Israel . . . then
surely I ought to consider doing so as well,” the Harvard professor writes.

“God was not present in the survivor’s
home in which I grew up,” writes Israeli artist Aliza Olmert. “The missing
niche of faith was filled by a socialist worldview and uplifting patriotism.”

“Both the God of consolation and the
accusation against God live within me,” says Rabbi Moshe Waldoks. Adds formerNew York Timesreporter Joseph Berger: “What God’s
culpability or at least responsibility was remains a mystery that I’ll never
resolve.”

While reading the book one thing I found
unexpectedly moving was how so many children of survivors grew up without any
relatives—in Rosensaft’s case, both his parent’s entire immediate families were
murdered.

“Like many children of survivors, I have
been haunted by faceless phantoms of dozens and dozens of aunts, uncles, and
cousins,” writes Waldoks.

Growing up, Karen Friedman realized her
family was different from her friends.

“Their family dynamics and experiences
were just different from the rest of ours,” writes the grandchild of survivors.
“I was always aware that my mother never knew what it was like to have
grandparents.”

In 1984, Elie Wiesel, who
survived both Auschwitz and Buchenwald , delivered the keynote address at the
first conference of children of Holocaust survivors.

“It was you that the
enemy sought to destroy,” he said. We were only the instruments. You were the
enemy’s obsession. In murdering Jews, he wished to prevent you from being
born.”

It would have been
natural and logical for their parents to turn their back on the world, “to have
opted for nihilism,” he went on to say. “And yet we have chosen you.”

And now, as the last trials
of Nazis are held and the few remaining survivors pass away, these new chosen
ones have the task of preserving the memory of their parents and grandparents
for future generations.

“A generation will soon come of age having
never heard firsthand testimony from a living Holocaust survivor," says
Rosensaft. "The preservation and transfer of memory is the most critical
mission that children and grandchildren of survivors must undertake.”

The stories inGod, Faith & Identity
from the Ashesshow
that many of them are taking that mission seriously.